


Bodies

by bizu



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: (Really Minor), F/M, Gen, Minor Angst, no reveal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-15
Updated: 2016-02-15
Packaged: 2018-05-20 18:36:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6020683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bizu/pseuds/bizu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marinette's body wasn't the same as Ladybug's.  Hers was imperfect, littered with scars, and Ladybug's wasn't.<br/>But there's some comfort in that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bodies

It was perfectly reasonable that she’d be nervous. In fact, she had plenty of reasons to explain her fidgeting and all she had to do was choose where to start. She could sputter about how seeing Adrien shirtless, her insecurities of having her skin exposed, or even the fact that she hadn’t taken done this in forever. But no, she knew that any way she spun the story, Alya would not have any of it. In fact, she knew all too well that Alya’s nose had become way too good at sniffing out nervous lies. 

So here she sat, in the locker room, fumbling with the hem of her shirt while the rest of her class went from clad in their undergarments to nude, and back to barely dressed again. If anything gave her a boost of confidence it was the fact that she knew she looked good in skin-tight suits, and a swimsuit was no exception. 

“God I hate gym class,” she groaned, reluctantly pulling her shirt off. 

“Why, it’s not like it’s too hard for you,” chimed another voice from the room. Alix, of course. She’d built an odd rivalry with Marinette anytime gym was involved. They were both agile, flexible and energetic and they’ve eventually made a game of beating each other out. 

Before Marinette could reply to her peer, Alya had rounded the corner and had made an aggressive approach towards Marinette, towel firmly gripped in her hands. The towel, fluffy and innocent quickly became a tool for girl espionage as she whipped it to pull Marinette’s head towards hers. 

Under the safety of the towel she began her rant to Marinette, “If you miss the opportunity to see Adrien shirtless, you will regret it. All you need to do is handle two hours of gym and you’ll be able to spend the rest of the school year fantasizing about his amazing body or perfect adonis belt.”

“But Alya-- I’d have to go out there in that!” She pointed towards the swimsuit Alya was wearing. While everyone may have worn the same suit, the suit didn’t favor everyone. Chloe looked noodly in hers, and Alix’s barely made it to cover her hips completely. Then she had Alya in front of her making the perfect case; her breasts were popping out of her swimsuit, and her thighs were popping out of the fabric. That one piece really worked wonders on the right body.

Alya just smirked at her, “You know I’m right. Don’t make me beat it into you, girl.”

Marinette gulped. A beating from Alya wasn’t physical but it didn’t make it any less scary. She breathed out an admission of defeat, and Alya was content. The curvy and curly girl let go of the towel, releasing Marinette from their tete-a-tete.

“I’m going out to go check on Nino. Ever since he dropped his phone in the Seine he’s been overly afraid of water.” And with that, her friend padded out of the locker room, leaving Marinette with the few other students who hadn’t finished changing yet. 

She couldn’t exactly talk to her kwami while her classmates were still around, but she desperately needed the kind words that her little friend would no-doubt start gushing. As she peeled her remaining clothes off and folded them she eyed her purse, knowing that what was inside was rooting for her as hard as Alya was-- if not harder.

Left leg. Right leg. Right arm. Left Arm. 

Sliding into the swimsuit wasn’t hard, but there was minor struggle with the elastic. How hard would it be to put on her Ladybug suit if she had to do it without Tikki? She didn’t even want to attempt to fathom how much of a struggle that fabric would give her.

But looking down at her legs, she couldn’t even compare the suit and the swimsuit. While the swimsuit was comfortable, it definitely did nothing to hide the flurry of scars on her skin. Raised ridges, discoloration, and a couple of bruises here and there. Guess it was just something that made Ladybug perfect. She didn’t have battle scars, wounds or bruises. 

She just was.

But right now she was Marinette, and the butterflies in her stomach were nothing compared to the ones she dealt with as Ladybug. Everyone in class would be busy swimming, and if they had a moment to stare at Marinette, she’d most likely be swimming too. No one would be able to see how much of a war veteran she was if she was being hidden by the water. 

Grabbing her towel and swinging it to rest on her shoulders, she made her way out towards the pool with fast feet and beating heart. Before she had even realized it, she was talking with Alya and Nino, waiting for the lanes to empty out. 

The conversation was shallow; brief jokes about Nino’s aversion to the water, a bit of bragging about Alya’s waterproof case, and idle discussion about how the swimsuits the school gave them just fit in all the wrong ways. Though, Nino had a minor objection, remarking how the ladies’ suits looked excellent.

The shared glance between Marinette and Alya went unnoticed.

As their conversation began to reach a pausing point, the first few students has started exiting the pool. Their laps started off short and grew in number over the class period, and the warm ups never lasted very long. Alya waved over a few swimmers to join their conversation. Part of Marinette wanted to go swim, burn off the nervous jitters in her stomach, while the other half wanted to put off her dive into the cold waters.

She turned to look at the pool, weighing her options only to be greeted with the sight of someone’s shoulder. Startled, she felt bad for completely missing out on someone walking beside her like that. She turned to crane her head up, ready to gree-  
Adrien. L’Eau my god, it was Adrien. Suddenly a quick warm up in those cold waters felt like the choice she should have made. Yep, that warm up would have been the cool off she needed, and as her face started to burn up in their close proximity, she glared at Alya.

Why didn’t you warn me! While Marinette wasn’t telepathic, her glare said more than enough to Alya, who merely gave her a wink, letting the conversation between the group go uninterrupted.

Why couldn’t she just purify the butterflies in her stomach? Her eyes wandered down to the floor, ready to distract herself by tracing patterns into the porcelain tiles. 

Lazily, her eyes wandered the floor, and then the feet of her friends. Alya’s toenails were unsurprising. Hot pink, with sets of polkadots. A cute way to customize the inner Ladybug, she supposed. Nino’s feet were… average. She didn’t idle on them for long. Feminine feet with neon purple polish sat next to a pair of feet with black polish. Alix and Juleka she figured. Then another pair of plain feet, but not ugly. 

Her eyes drifted up one of the plain feet’s legs, idling on the contours of the muscles. Clearly a boy, she deduced, based on how much of a forest these legs are. But they were all too familiar. Her eyes lingered on the legs. She’d never really seen them before, but…

Then she saw it- it clicked! Aside from them not being her legs, they were her legs! Wait, no that sounded stupid-- these legs were like hers. Scars everywhere. A large pattern of silver, a couple of etched lines, and his knees! His knees were bruised beyond belief. 

Her gaze drew higher before she realized that she was trespassing on private property. She then darted up, briefly skimming his marred chest-- though she didn’t miss the dark black mark on his chest. Almost a diamond, but not quite. And his face was--

Adrien. 

She had to stop surprising herself like this. She’d been lucky and he hadn’t caught her gaze yet, or maybe he had and didn’t let on. Either way she was thankful for the embarrassment she wouldn’t have to experience. Though she had to wonder, why was Adrien’s body so… imperfect? He was a model, and she was sure that he’d never been involved with any rough activities.

The piercing scream of the whistle interrupted her thoughts. 

“Cheng, Césaire, Bourgeois! Allez!” Did her teacher’s voice always carry so much weight? She scrambled to her position on the edge of the pool, took position and dived in.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to criticize the story; I haven't written anything for enjoyment for years and I'm getting back into it. Wanted to do a warm up before I dive into a longer story that's been in my head for a while. 
> 
> n-ini.com for any artwork I may eventually post, and possibly drafts.


End file.
